Zoo Time

After a Saturday of soccer and home life, we decided to take more advantage of this beautiful weather this weekend and take the kids to the zoo before our annual pass expired. We knew the new Lego exhibit had just opened up there as well, so it seemed like perfect timing. We went early to beat the bigger crowd and the heat and it ended up being perfect.
Many of the animals were very active and right out next to the glass. They especially loved the seals and the polar bear who was being very funny and watching a zoo keeper feed the giraffes some bread pieces. Here's some fun shots we got while the kids looked at them.

 

 

 

Of course we had to do the  regular shots by statues and found two eagles in the nest.

 

And don't forget the added bonus, the Lego's around the zoo. The Polar bear was amazing.

 These monkeys had a very good time indeed.

 

We rode the carousel, which Faith was petrified of for the first time. Then we went to the Oasis cafe and ordered a family size pizza to share and enjoyed it under a pavilion while watching some geese and goslings wonder around the tables.

We ended the trip by letting the kids play at the block party tent with giant Lego's and in the world fountain. Unfortunately the playground was closed off for construction of what looks to be a new, cool exhibit in the future.

 

It was a very fun Sunday morning and the kids were all very well behaved. I couldn't have asked for better. Thanks family for the good day.



 

Soccer Time!

After a rained-out first week, soccer finally got officially under way this weekend. And the boys were super excited.
The twins had the early game and were a little overwhelmed with it all. They spent the majority of the game on the field like this.

They were sad and upset that the other kids weren't sharing the ball. And didn't understand that they were supposed to try and get the ball anyway. It was funny and frustrating at the same time. They did do a few kicks when they were given to them to kick off or practicing at half time.

After their game was over we had to wait a couple hours for Caleb's game to start. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with him and his team. For him not playing for many years, he did so well. He played defense for his team and had a couple of impressive stops and even one header stop. They ended up in a tie 2-2. It was really fun to watch and get into the game.

Way to go Warriors and our little Red Dragons. Looking forward to more of the season and getting the twins more into the games. 

Day Date- Spring edition

Tuesday was Mike and I's quarterly day-date. We started out the date after dropping off the kids at school and the babysitter. We only had one thing actually planned to do so the rest of the day was pretty much winging it. It was still early, so we went to do a little shopping at Kohl's to waste time. We ended up picking out a couple new shirts for me. Then we ventured over to Michael's to look at some craft options.
Once done with that we decided to go to Mike's favorite donut place, Banbury Cross, since we were heading to the side of town anyway. We went in and ordered a few donuts and a drink and sat down and enjoyed them together. They are seriously so good, as always. Then we had some more time to waste so we went to another of his favorite shops in Sugarhouse that we haven't been to in years and looked around.
By then it was time for the main plan, to meet up with some friends at the Leonardo Museum and go through the Mummies of the World exhibit.

 

We enjoyed the exhibit. It was fun and a little creepy at the same time. Then we headed back into the old Sugarhouse stomping grounds for some lunch at Salt Lake Pizza &Pasta. Then we took Mike to his favorite comic book store, Black Cat comics, to look around and he bought himself a nice new Superman Comic book to read. By then it was about time to go pick up kids and head home.

 

We decided toward the end that although unintentional, it ended up being a day more geared towards Mike's interests and his favorite places. But I wouldn't have had it any other way, it was great and he deserves it. 

 

Having a Ball

Papa Ringo and Grandma Judi took the twins shopping for these giant balls for their Bday. They got one red one and one blue one. We pumped one up to try it out on the sledding hills today and the boys loved it. Mom was concerned about numerous injuries of course, but I'm happy to report we made it out injury free....this time. 

 

Here's the one video I can get to load of one of Caleb's trips down.  

 

 

 

Thanks for the fun Papa and Grandma!

 

Fun to be 5!

Yesterday was finally time for the boys 5th birthday we've been planning at our house. This year Zaden wanted Batman and Zaric wanted Spiderman so we combined the two and went with a comic-book approach. We started out over the last few weeks making some fun decor. I made this fun pennant banner out of copied comic book pages.

 

And we made some copies of comic book covers and framed them around the house.

Mike made some water bottle wraps and an awesome invite (sorry, not pictured).

 

Of course I also bought a few things. Like these fun banners and balloon decorations.

Zaden insisted on sloppy joe's for the party, so we went with that and made these fun chip cones out of copies comic book pages as well to go along with them.

And for goody bags each kid got a comic book and a Spiderman or Batman Pez dispenser.

Zaric insists it's not a party if you don't have balloons so I ran out in the morning to get some. They made the perfect center piece for the food island.

And I left the cakes up to Harmon's who did a great job.

When I first brought the cakes home the twins just sat next to them for about 20 minutes. When I asked what they were doing I was told. "watching the cakes." I'm glad I hired security for those things. They were too excited. It was super cute.

We got dressed, had a snack (see messy face below) and got ready to party!

As soon as all the guests arrived we rushed out to play our game. Somehow the Spiderman and Batman Villains had gotten taped to our fence in the back yard and needed some crime-stopper help. I armed them all with cans of silly string and we did some warm up exercises and they were off.

Of course it degraded slightly to getting each other and my nephew Taylor, but he was a good sport as always.

 

After some more play time, it was time to open presents. They got so much fun stuff and loved it all.

 

Their favorites were the remote control Spiderman 4-wheeler and the remote control Batman from Mom and Dad.

 

Then it was time for cake and ice cream.

Then more play time with friends and cousins while the adults visited and had a good time together. Faith cuddled up to Taylor and showed us all just how tiring and fun this party really was.

It was a really great day and a really great party. We followed it up with going to do a little shopping with Papa for more presents and then taking them out to dinner with just our little family to end the night. Thanks to everyone that came and enjoyed with us. The twins are super happy and are already loving being 5!